Past News Releases

The World Business Academy, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Barbara, California, has engaged NSF International of Ann Arbor, Michigan, to assist in obtaining samples of various kombucha tea products now on the shelves of grocery stores and other retailers to independently have them tested for alcohol levels.

Rinaldo Brutoco, founding president and CEO of the World Business Academy, says, “Along with responsible leaders in the kombucha industry, we realize these products can ferment into alcoholic beverages. Several of these kombucha beverages contain levels of residual alcohol, which require them to be labeled as alcoholic beverages, restricting their consumption by minors and warning others for whom alcoholic intake is inappropriate (e.g. airline pilots, long-distance truckers, pregnant women, people recovering from substance abuse, etc.). Unfortunately, although many brewers create perfectly safe non-alcoholic kombucha, no independent testing is currently done that can be relied on by retailers, manufacturers, and the public at large. Our initiative, assisted by the nationwide capabilities of assurance provider NSF International, will help the industry by providing neutral 3rd party data to manufacturers, retailers, and consumers concerning the alcohol safety of the kombucha beverages they choose.”

Many industries—including aerospace, medical devices, and chemical—employ NSF to ensure public health and safety. According to Mr. Brutoco, “NSF and the World Business Academy agree on the specific methods in which NSF will acquire kombucha products from stores and forward those beverages to specified testing laboratories, which will then test the beverages to the federally mandated standard specifications of the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau (TTB). Upon completion of those tests, all kombucha beverages which pass TTB standards will be posted on a public website for the world to see.”

The selection of beverages and the testing process will be supervised by the Truth In Labeling Initiative of the World Business Academy, assisted by a technical advisory board chaired by Arthur J. Libertucci. Mr. Libertucci is formerly a top official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. He was also the first Administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the federal agency charged with regulating the kombucha-beverage category.

Through the Truth in Labeling Initiative program, manufacturers of kombucha products may voluntarily request testing of their beverages; the results may be made public disclosing which beverages have met the “alcohol free” TTB standard.

NSF International is a global not-for-profit public health organization that writes standards, tests, and certifies products for the food, water, health sciences, and consumer goods industries to minimize adverse health effects and protect the environment. Founded in 1944, NSF is committed to protecting human health and safety worldwide. http://nsf.org